


epinephrine

by clxude



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Agni Kai, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, But not explicit, Enemies to Friends, Human Trafficking, M/M, air bender yuri, firebender otabek, not really otayuri bc it ends on a hopeful note
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-04 04:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10983168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clxude/pseuds/clxude
Summary: Really, it's Yakov's fault that he ran away and almost died.





	epinephrine

**Author's Note:**

> this is really late but here's my fic for the otayuri reverse bang! i hope the yoific-without-theshit is happy to see I'm still writing fic worthy of the shit list ;;;) (y'all i was number 4 i was so happy)  
> the art is by the wonderful loonixart and this fic was betaed by musicprincess655!!  
> enjoy!!!

He stands on the precipice, staring down at the mountains and jagged cliffs below. A few scraggly trees cling to the rock - all dead wood stretching out to the sun. He flexes his fingers around the wooden shaft of his glider, rolls out his shoulders, and jumps, following the sun.

 

…

 

“Where were you, Yura?” Yakov - the presiding master of the northern air temple outpost - asks once he climbs in through a window, lured in by the scent of warm stew, simmering over the hearth.

 

“Flying,” Yuri responds as he begins to fill his bowl, back to Yakov. He can spot a few root vegetables in the stew and amongst the other unidentified objects and doesn’t question it - Yakov isn’t known for his cooking. “Out over the pass.”

 

“Yura.”

 

“Mmm?”

 

“Look at me, Yura!” Yakov growls, slapping the ladle on the hearth. Yura jumps, just slightly.

 

“What?” he asks, spinning around. Anger dances in Yakov’s eyes, spiraling around the reflection of the flames.

 

“You know you’re not allowed to go out that far alone,” he lectures. “You know what lives out in the pass - it’s dangerous. Did you even take Georgi with you?”

 

Yuri scowls at the thought of his flying bison. Mila - one of the benders that works in the stable - says he’ll grow some more and will eventually be strong enough to fly further than just to the fields to graze, but Yuri doesn’t see that happening anytime soon. He’s just a runt, and a sickly one at that.

 

“That’s what I thought,” Yakov says, sighing. “I know you think you’re ready to learn more advanced techniques, but you lack discipline. It’s not - “

 

“It’s not  _ what?”  _ Yuri spits out. “Not safe? I’m not a child - “

 

“You’re fifteen - “

 

“And I’m ready to learn! Victor was already a master when he was my age.”

 

“Victor is different,” Yakov says, voice emotionless, and Yuri knows he made a mistake. 

 

Victor was the first airbender to get his tattoos after the 100 years war, back when the nomads were desperate to cling to their culture. Twelve years have passed and things aren’t nearly as hopeless, but it’s still not fair.

 

“You’ll learn the techniques when I deem you ready.”

 

_ “Yes,  _ Yakov,” he says, scowling. He leaves his stew on the hearth, pushing past Yakov to storm out of the room.

 

…

 

“ - a teenager,” Mila says, her voice waking Yuri up just before dawn. The edges of the sky are tinted in purples and pinks. “And he grew up around Victor. You know how hard that is. He wants to be like him - don’t punish him for that.”

 

“He needs to listen to me. It’s for his own good.”

 

She sighs, and her next few words barely make their way into his room. “I don’t think it is.”

 

…

 

When it comes down to it, no one should be that surprised that he ran away. Yakov always said he was too much like Victor - too headstrong, too defiant to ever make a good airbender when fire runs through his veins. 

 

Yuri doesn’t agree. He’s better than Victor, after all, and the chi blocker he picked up out east. Mila likes to talk about the two of them, voice wistful -  _ “they’re made for each other.” _

 

No one should be surprised anymore. 

 

…

 

He leaves Georgi in the stable, not even bothering to say goodbye. The bison is useless, all things considered. Mila will take care of him, even if Yuri won’t. 

 

It’s just him and his glider, and the pale moonlight, the wind tugging his clothes as he moves silently through the air, leaving the temple far behind.

 

…

 

He’s been out of the mountains for a few days now - wandering through the forest when he’s not flying with only a vague idea of where he’s supposed to go or how to get to the other temple - and it’s starting to show. His robes stick to his skin, and grime has built up on his hands and feet.

 

It’s been a few days, and he’s tired and hungry, and there’s a rash breaking out on his arm from some plant he must have brushed against, but he’s still sitting up in a tree, the leafy branches hopefully blocking out the gold and crimson of his robes. 

 

Beneath him walks a firebender, or at least someone dressed in the flame red garb of the nation. Yuri holds his breath, tightens his grip on the tree branch. The air around him is perfectly still, more of a gut wrenching reaction than anything else. He doesn’t -  _ can’t  _ \- breathe. 

 

The firebender walks out of view, hidden by the leafy green foliage. Yuri slides further down the branch to follow him, supporting himself on the air currents that flow through the forest, but the branch is too weak, too thin to support his weight further out, and it lets out a sickening crack.

 

In that moment - the entire forest seems to still, like a bug trapped in amber. Yuri wants to slide back up the branch and push his spine into the trunk of the tree until he phases into it, hidden from view, but it’s too late, and his eyes meet the firebender’s. The gaze seems to peer into his very soul. 

 

He swallows, and drops from the tree. The wind catches him, and his feet barely make a sound when they touch the forest floor. He could fly away, except his glider is too far away, propped against a tree on the other side of the firebender. Even if he could get it, there’s no reason to not assume the firebender would just blast him out of the sky with a single fireball to a wing. 

 

There’s only one thing left - to stand and fight. It would have Yakov rolling in his grave, which makes Yuri think that it’s an even better plan.

 

“What do you want?” he asks, thankful that his voice doesn’t quiver as he stares down the firebender. 

 

The firebender studies him, eyes straying to his clothing. 

 

“Are you an airbender?” he asks instead of replying.

 

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

 

“Are you?”

 

Instead of answering, Yuri clenches his fist by his side, glaring as the firebender begins to claw at his throat, muscles tensing and his face growing blue. He lets go once the firebender’s eyes begin to flutter shut.

 

The firebender drops to his knees, his chest heaving as he struggles to regain his breath. 

 

"Does that answer your question?" Yuri asks. 

 

The firebender nods his head, and Yuri stalks past him to fetch his glider. 

 

"What do you want?" he asks again. 

 

"I am just - " he pauses, his face already red from exertion. "Traveling. I am traveling."

 

"How do I know you're not a trafficker?"

 

"They work in groups, don't they?"

 

Yuri rolls his eyes. "Do they no longer teach you about traps in the Fire Nation academies?"

 

The firebender doesn't respond.

 

Yuri turns his back and opens his glider.

 

"Wait!" the firebender calls just before Yuri jumps.

 

"There are traffickers here. They probably already know you're - "

 

"I knew it," Yuri spits out. "This was a trap. You drew me out. You made me stay here longer than I should have."

 

"I didn't - "

 

But it's too late. Their argument must have drawn out the hunters.  Yuri can already smell their fire.

 

...

 

"Get up."

 

"What - "

 

He looks at the firebender, murder in his eyes. "Get up, now. Or you'll be just as dead as the traffickers."

 

The firebender swallows and stands.

 

Yuri can feel them now, the shift in the air, the death that follows them like a cloak. Yuri really hopes the firebender is actually a bender, or he might not make it out of this alive.

 

"Get behind me," Yuri says, and he can't quite believe that he said it. It's dangerous, and he doesn't trust him yet - he doubts that he ever will - but he's still putting his life on the line for a  _ firebender. _

 

The firebender complies, and falls into what Yuri can only assume to be a fighting stance or the beginning of a firebending form.

 

Yuri closes his eyes, breathes deeply until all he is is air, a leaf on the wind, a tornado, a hurricane. Unstoppable. He can sense the traffickers, but he can't tell where they are coming from. They consume him, the forest, the air, until it's is only them and the havoc they bring.

 

And then, Yuri realizes it. The traffickers have surrounded them.

 

"We're done for," he says, and the words feel like a stone on his tongue.

 

The firebender opens his mouth to say something, but a ring of flames surrounds them, crackling as it consumes grass and underbrush, barely staying far enough to not catch on their clothing. 

 

Yuri tries to fight back, to dampen the flames however much he can, but he can’t even leave a dent. The traffickers travel in packs, armed to the teeth so they can fight even when their strength reserved for bending has been sapped. Yuri licks his lips, shakes out his arms, tries to summon a small whirlwind to suck up the fire, but all he can manage is to push around a few leaves. Choking the firebender must have sucked up more strength than he wanted to admit. 

 

There’s nothing he can do now - he can’t fly, can’t fight, he going to  _ die.  _

 

Yakov was right. Yuri should have trusted him, back when he was still living in the air temple’s sanctuary. He is still so young, so untrained, so  _ undisciplined,  _ he might as well be running blind. 

 

He’s so, so, so stupid, but he can’t let anyone know. He breaths out, pretends he can control the carbon dioxide more than the average person. 

 

There are seconds left - the traffickers will be on them soon, once they are done taunting their prey.

 

“Watch my back,” he says to the firebender, “and I’ll watch yours.”

 

He sees them then, once the words finish coming out of his mouth, reckless and waiting for blood. Inky figures, with fire for hands. Once they enter the firelight, Yuri can see that their mouths and noses are covered, heads shaved and covered in harsh, black tattoos. 

 

He hears a gasp - the firebender he’s partnered with. Yuri hopes the plan hasn’t already come to bite him in the ass.

 

“It’s a surprise to see you here, Otabek.” Yuri doesn’t know that voice, but Otabek certainly does; Yuri turns around just in time to see him tense up. “Found someone to go around with, eh? Better than being with your friends.”

 

This one - the leader, Yuri is assuming - doesn’t have his face covered like the rest of his crew. His smile looks like it could cut steel, or kill Yuri, with its sharp edges and the accompanied eyes - ones that look a little lost, a little glassy, a little like they’re waiting for a reason to pounce. 

 

“What do you want, Jean?”

 

The leader - Jean - smirks. “For you to come back to us. Running hasn’t been nearly as fun lately. Not to discredit the rest of the crew, but we’ve had to pick up on a few smuggling jobs since you left. Lesser work, really. You know how it goes,” he shrugs, a loopy smile on his mouth.

 

Apparently, Otabek does know how that goes. “I’m not interested.”

 

“Are you sure?” Jean presses. “If I knew you any less, I would have thought you were waiting for us. That airbender really is a thoughtful gift, Beka.”

 

Yuri flinches, seething, but he doesn’t move. That could mean his death. He needs more time, a distraction,  _ something -  _

 

“You always did have the best taste,” Jean says, voice easy, voice silky smooth like he’s saying,  _ “I like your boots”  _ or he’s saying,  _ “I prefer the color red,”  _ because it’s not sinister until it soaks into your blood and it begins to boil with the sudden realization that these people want your skin and the money that comes with it.

 

He doesn’t snap, and he doesn’t break. It consumes him, the wind and the fire and him, exploding with the force of a thundercrack directly overhead. 

The ring of fire is extinguished in the space of a blink, and two of the weaker traffickers collapse under the force of the wind. It takes everything he didn’t know he had left away, until even the air in his lungs is sucked away.

 

Jean doesn’t shake - his hair shifts but his smile never leaves - and the flames in front of him barely even tremble. It feels like a smack to the face - Yuri gave everything to that one move and Jean looks like nothing happened.

 

“He’s not very strong, is he?” Jean comments, looking him up and down. “But it’s the thought that counts, right, Otabek?”

 

"You don't know what you're talking about," Otabek says. He shifts to stand in front of Yuri, and he hates it at first, but then again he can barely move and his legs are trembling beneath him. He’s counting on Otabek, as much as he’s loathe to admit it. 

 

“Really? Because he doesn’t look like he can deny it,” Jean replies, still smiling, still without a care in the world. He turns to look at Yuri and asks, “What are you, twelve?” 

 

Yuri wants to jump on him and claw his throat out if he’s too tired to bend, but a sharp glare from Otabek keeps him in his place. 

 

“He’s not yours.”

 

“And why is that?” Jean asks, his smile taking on a harder edge. The rest of the traffickers are standing up, hands glowing. The ring of fire has yet to reform, but Yuri knows it’s only a matter of time.

 

“Because he belongs to me.”

 

“That’s where you are wrong,  _ Beka.”  _

 

The moment the name rolls off his tongue, several things take place - Otabek pushes Yuri onto the forest floor, and summons a handful of fire; the ring of fire reforms, burning hotter and brighter than before; Jean drops his calm demeanor, hands sparking red. 

 

“I thought we came to an agreement, Otabek. I let you leave the crew without any repercussions, and you stay out of our way. I should have you killed for even being in my territory.”

 

“You wouldn’t.”

 

“Is that a challenge?”

 

“Sir - “ one of the other traffickers tries to stop him, but it doesn’t work.

 

“I challenge you to an Agni Kai at sundown, Otabek Altin. Whoever wins receives the airbender.”

 

“This is - “ Yuri begins, but then - 

 

“I accept.”

 

…

 

“You can’t just agree to something like that!” Yuri yells once they’re out of earshot of the traffickers. He doubts they’re completely alone, but he doesn’t care enough to stop, and Otabek isn’t stopping him either. 

 

“I could die! You might as well just hand me over now because it doesn’t look like you’re going in with any sort of plan.”

 

“It’s going to be fine.”

 

“That’s not very reassuring,” he grumbles, but it doesn’t draw a reaction out of Otabek.

 

He wants to say they can just run, go as far and as fast as they can possibly get before sundown, but he knows Otabek won’t agree. It’s a matter of honor, and running now would only mean Jean’s assault would be that much worse when he finally caught up.

…

 

Sunset approaches faster than Yuri can prepare for it, quicker than he can recover from the burn out still wracking his body. He doesn’t have anything to do besides sit on his hands, but he’s still stressed and scared, and his worry only grows ever larger as Otabek does nothing to prepare for the duel. 

 

They meet Jean and the rest of his crew in the clearing, and it’s still surrounded by a ring of burnt underbrush. From there, they travel to the nearest village. It’s small - a few hundred houses and shops - with a stone wall surrounding it. Equidistant between two of the entrances to the village is a cleared space, the ground hard packed dirt.

 

He heard stories growing up of the Agni Kai duels, of the burns that left people immobile for days afterward, of the healers rushing in too late to do any real good.

 

He looks at Otabek and he knows, whatever happens, there’s nothing he can do to change it now.

 

Someone from the town comes out to supervise, bringing the traditional uniforms for the duel. As Jean and Otabek change, she calls out the rules.

 

“One - you may not leave the dueling grounds until the duel has ended. Two - once the duel has begun, you can not forfeit. Three - the duel will only end once one opponent has burned the other.”

 

“You can stand with us,” one of the traffickers says, smiling. He looks kind of enough - his face more baby fat than anything else, eyes doe brown - but Yuri still glares and shrugs him off, moving to stand on the other side of the ring.

 

The sky is beginning to bleed red as the sun sets. The wind begins to pick up; Yuri shivers. A few minutes later, the two men move to opposite sides of the ring. A signal is given, and Otabek and Jean both drop into a fighting stance raising their hands to guard their faces. 

 

Neither of them move at first, and Yuri assumes they’re both taking in their opponent's weak points and positioning. Otabek is the first to move, stepping to the right and dragging his left foot behind him, bringing his hands together with a small ball of flame between them.  Jean doesn’t move until the last second, when the flames have already left Otabek hands and traveled across the ring faster than Yuri can react. He sidesteps, reflecting Otabek’s move with a blast of his own.

 

Yuri looks at the sky again - it’s growing darker, the cloud cover thicker. His glider is still in the woods, but he could run. He doubts anyone would stop him. The traffickers are completely captivated by the match. He could run, but he’s not going to. He’s going to stay by Otabek’s side until the end - whatever that may be - if Otabek is going to go this far for him. 

 

When Yuri looks back at the fight, it’s beginning to pick up. Otabek deflects Jean’s kick even as the flames roll over him and he stumbles back a step. Before, Yuri had been certain Jean was going to win. Even now, when Jean sends attack after attack, Yuri isn’t so sure he’ll be the victor.

 

The fight continues, and soon all Yuri can make out is patches of skin surrounded by clouds of flame, and all the while, his strength slowly returns. Not enough to truely change the course of the fight, but enough to provide Otabek the slightest advantage. Increasing the height of his jumps, pushing him out of the way of an oncoming attack - anything to keep him alive a little longer without getting caught. 

 

Eventually, Jean and Otabek move too close together to continue with the massive barrages of flame. They’re practically on top of each other, slashing with handfuls of flame. Yurio stops breathing, clenching his fists. There’s nothing he can do now. 

 

The fight comes to a sudden stop when Jean suddenly falls, hands flying up to his face. Pink skin peeks out. Flames still consume Otabek’s hands, but they slowly die out. Someone - one of the traffickers - calls for a healer, and the woman who came to supervise helps them find one. All the while, Yuri and Otabek don’t move. 

 

Yuri doesn’t know what happened. One second Otabek was about to be burned by Jean, a column of flame heading straight towards his face with only a handful of his own fire to counter it. The next, it was forced back onto Jean, drawing out a scream. 

 

Otabek is staring at him, features harsh, as Jean is carried away by the traffickers and the healer. 

 

Yuri must have done something, but he has no memory of it.  _ “It wasn’t me,”  _ he mouth at Otabek, even though he knows that can’t be true. 

 

“You can go now,” one of the traffickers tells Otabek and Yuri a few moments later, once Jean has been lead into the town. “But, don’t let us find you in our territory again.”

 

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Yuri spits out, but Otabek stops him, gripping his wrist.

 

The two of them head back into the woods, stopping in the clearing so Yuri can grab his glider. For a while, neither of them speak, too caught up in their own thoughts and the last dregs of adrenaline from the Agni Kai. 

 

Yuri considers leaving Otabek, not saying anything and just flying away. Otabek looks dead on his feet - Yuri doubts the firebender could stop him, even if he wanted to. 

 

An hour passes, and they’re far from the traffickers’ corner of the woods. They’re standing by a stream. Otabek squats to fill water skin. When he stands, he squints at Yuri. “Why did you save me?”

 

“I didn’t.”

 

Otabek doesn’t say anything, but Yuri can tell he doesn’t believe him. 

 

“My life was on the line, too,” he says, because there’s no way he’s going to admit to anything else. “It’s not - it’s not all about you.”

 

“I didn’t say it was,” Otabek replies, voice neutral even as his eyebrows scrunch up. 

 

“Good, because it’s not,” he says, beginning to blush. He turns away from Otabek quickly and begins to walk. He can hear Otabek follow him, but he doesn’t look back.

 

Yuri isn’t sure why he’s blushing. Even  _ if  _ he did know, he wouldn’t say anything. Otabek doesn’t mean anything to him. Sure, the firebender saved his life, but Yuri would never have been in that situation if it wasn’t for Otabek. He doesn’t need to thank him, or explain his reasons. 

 

It’s not like this means anything, after all. 

 

…

 

Days pass, and the two men continue to travel together. Neither of them speak often, except to point out water sources and food. Most of the time, Otabek just follows Yuri silently, another thing that would have Yakov screaming for hours. He shouldn’t lead a firebender so close to the air temple, no matter how benevolent he may seem. Besides, knowing that he used to travel with Jean’s crew of traffickers leaves him slightly on edge, but he does his best to swallow it down. 

 

Soon, they leave the forest and its towering trees behind. A few miles away, hills begin, with mountains stretching upward behind them. Yuri doesn’t know what to say and he doesn’t know why - it’s not like he owes Otabek anything. He could fly away in the middle of the night and it would all be the same in the end. 

 

He shouldn’t have let this mean anything, and yet he did. 

 

…

 

It’s getting dark, and the two of them are sitting by a small fire. Yuri has his legs crossed, hands tucked in his lap. 

 

He takes a deep breath, and then - “I’m leaving tomorrow. We’re only a few days from the temple, and I - “

 

“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Otabek interrupts. “I understand.” 

 

Neither of them speak again until Otabek offers to take the first watch.

 

…

 

They reach the base of the mountains late in the morning. They stand facing each other, Yuri holding his glider close to his side. He doesn’t want to just leave without saying anything, but at the same time, there’s nothing for him to say - 

 

“Thank you,” Otabek says, dragging Yuri back to the present, “For helping me win the Agni Kai. I doubted that I would win.”

 

“It’s not a big deal,” Yuri says, brushing it off even as he blushes hard. “I didn’t want to be taken by Jean, so.”

 

He takes a step back, preparing to throw his glider. He has seconds left, and yet - “I’ll see you again?”

 

“Yes.”

 

And then he’s gone.

 

…

 

He hasn’t been to a proper air temple in years - not since he was first dropped off as a baby at the end of the war, before Yakov took him to the outpost. It’s massive, full of benders and their bison. 

 

“Where’s Victor?” he asks the first person he sees. 

 

“In the garden - “ the bender starts, but Yuri is gone before they can finish.

 

…

 

“Yuri!” Victor shrieks as soon as he sees him, jumping up from the bench he was sitting on to scoop Yuri into his arms. “Yakov said you were coming to visit!”

 

Yuri shakes him off. “You know why I’m here.”

 

Victor begins to smile. “To become a master, yes? Then I’ll teach you everything I know.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! comments are greatly appreciated :)  
> tumblr - c10p and mother-iwa-chan  
> twitter - cactixix


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